Three Roses
by ToastWeaselofDOOM
Summary: Three roses, two stories, one love. The story of two captains who's love is shown on a certain captain's birthday. For okaasan-taichou with much luff. Twoshot.
1. Story 1 by Toast

**Three Roses**

**By Toast and Mira-chan  
**

**First Chapter- by Toast**

**Second Chapter- by Mira (co-written by Toast)**

**A/N: For Unohana-taichou, on her birthday, with luff. We don't own Bleach.  
**

**-Toast and Mira**

* * *

**Three Roses**

"Unohana-taichou, we need your assistance."

Yamada Hanataro poked his head into the office of the Yonbantai-taichou, Unohana Retsu. The captain was at her desk, filling out paperwork in her thin, graceful script.

"Unohana-taichou?" Hanataro asked timidly.

Unohana raised her head from where she was working and turned to smile at her apprehensive seventh seat. "My apologies, Yamada-san, I was lost in my work. What needs my attention?"

"Uh, um," Hanataro muttered, opening the door and walking into the room. "Several members of Juuichibantai are being loud and reckless and we can't get them to quiet down, no matter what we do. Sanseki Iemura Yasochika sent me to ask you for your assistance in calming them down. Can you help us?"

Unohana smiled slightly. "Of course. You may tell Iemura-kun I will be there to deal with the members of Juuichibantai in a moment."

Hanataro's apprehensive face broke into a smile. "Thank you, taichou!" He bowed, then hurried out of the room.

Unohana smiled at her seventh seat's behavior and rose from her chair, brushing down her haori. "I suppose it's time to see what mess the Juuichibantai members have made of the Relief Station," she sighed, and headed out the door of her office.

It didn't take her long to find the source of the commotion.

Five or six low-ranked members of Eleventh were out in the hallways, yelling, breaking things, and generally complaining about their treatment. Iemura was trying to regain some order, but no one seemed to be backing him up, as everyone was too busy staying out of the Juuichibantai members' way.

"What seems to be the problem?" Unohana asked as she glided up to the troublemaking Shinigami.

The Juuichibantai members froze in their tracks. They turned slowly to face the Yonbantai-taichou. "U-Unohana-taichou," they stammered as one, "n-nice to s-see you."

"It is nice to see that you are up and about," Retsu said, smiling gently, "but I'm afraid for the moment your injuries are such that if you move too much they will open up again. I advise that you return to your rooms and continue healing quietly. If you do not return to your rooms, we will be forced to sedate you, and nobody wants that, right? So please, return to your rooms now."

"O-Of course, U-Unohana-taichou!" the members of Juuichibantai chorused, running at full tilt towards their rooms.

Unohana sighed. "Sanseki Iemura, your issue seems to have been resolved."

Iemura bowed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Thank you, Unohana-taichou."

"Not at all, Iemura-san." Unohana smiled and inclined her head slightly. "I have paperwork that must be turned in, so I must depart. When Isane arrives back from her fukutaichou meeting, please send her to my office."

Iemura bowed again. "Of course, Unohana-taichou."

Unohana walked away, leaving her subordinates to clean up the mess the patients had caused. 'I will have to talk to Kenpachi-san about their behavior the next time our paths cross,' she thought as she turned to corner to her office. 'Even if he probably won't do anything about it.'

She turned the doorknob to her office door and pushed it open. It was the same as she had left it, except for a small bouquet on her desk.

The bouquet was made of three roses: one pink, one red, and one white. Their stems had been removed of thorns and carefully twisted together. They had been tied together with a piece of ribbon, on which was attached a note. Unohana carefully detached it from the roses and read the slightly slanted script.

'_My love for you grows ever stronger._

_A rose for each of us,_

_and another for what binds us together._

_Our fates are tangled;_

_they draw steadily closer._

_Upon this day I wish to tell you_

_That my love for you burns brighter_

_than candles in the night.'_

It wasn't signed nor dated, but Retsu could tell the roses were fresh, probably cut early that morning.

'A person who does not wish for me to know their identity sent this,' Unohana pondered, rereading the free-verse poem. 'Either that, or a person who wishes to test my intelligence and solve the riddle that is hidden in this poem.' She smiled softly. 'Very well, if that is what they want, that is what they'll get.'

She settled down at her desk to solve this mystery. She ran kidou-covered fingers over the roses, trying to detect even the slightest glimmer of spiritual energy that would give the sender away. But the person was clever, and had masked their energy so well that even Unohana, trained as she was in the arts of kidou and sensing reiryoku, couldn't sense it.

'They must be talented,' Unohana mused, 'to shield their reiryoku so well. Interesting . . .' she turned her attention to the mention of the roses.

"'_A rose for each of us,' _" she said thoughtfully, _"'and another for what binds us together.' _It's obvious I know this person, or why would they mention it? Curious." She inspected the roses. One pink, one red, one white.

"Pink," she murmured, running a finger across the smoky pink petals. "The same color as my haori lining. So this rose symbolizes myself, I imagine."

Two remaining roses. One red. One white.

"A rose for the sender," Unohana murmured, "and one for something that binds us." She then noticed the ribbon that held the roses together. It was the same deep red color as the middle rose.

"The ribbon helps bind," Unohana said softly. "Obviously a hint from the sender. One that I will use. The red rose then symbolizes the thing that binds us together, and the white rose signifies the sender. Now, to unlock this puzzle."

She ran her fingers over the line of the poem that said _'binds us together.'_ "The first thing that I can think of that's red that would bind me to someone is blood, but none of my relatives are alive any longer. Blood . . . of course. They mean literally. And the white . . ." a smile grew across her lips.

She knew exactly who had sent the roses.

* * *

"Taichou, Unohana-taichou has come from Yonbantai and requests an audience with you. Should we let her in?"

Ukitake looked up from his paperwork, letting a small smile play over his lips. 'That didn't take long, now, did it?'

"Ah yes, I've been expecting her," he said, putting his brush down and straightening the papers on his desk. "Let her come in."

Rukia nodded. "Of course. I'll be back with her in one moment."

Ukitake spent the several minutes Rukia was gone thinking over exactly what he had done. 'Either she'll be furious with me, or she'll enjoy what I gave her,' he thought. 'I sincerely hope it is the latter.'

The shoji-screen door to his office slid open, revealing Unohana and Rukia. "Ah, Retsu," Ukitake said, smiling. "Welcome. Rukia, thank you for escorting her. You may leave."

Rukia nodded and disappeared in a buzz of shunpo, leaving the two senior captains alone.

"I got your gift," Unohana said, eying Ukitake with interest.

Ukitake grinned. "I gathered. Now the question is, did you like it?"

Unohana smiled softly. "As a matter of fact, I did. The red rose was a nice touch. Blood and love for the same color."

"Rather ironic, don't you think?" Ukitake asked, moving closer to Unohana. "That the thing that plagues me so is what attracted me to you in the first place?"

"Maybe," Unohana said, amusement tinting her tones. "Perhaps what attracted me was your intelligence and charming good looks."

Ukitake laughed. "Maybe. I'm surprised you solved my riddle so fast, but I really shouldn't be. You are one of the elder shinigami captains, just like me."

"When you've been around a while, you pick up such things as intelligence," Unohana chuckled. "I'm curious, however. Where did you get that shade of pink rose?"

Ukitake grinned. "That would be telling," he said softly, leaning down to look eye-to-eye with Retsu. "Besides, I rather like my trade-secrets."

He cupped her face in his hand and said softly, "One more thing, Retsu."

"Yes?"

Their lips met.

"Happy Birthday."

* * *

**A/N: Tangobi Omedato, Unohana-taichou!!! XD Hope you like your present!**

**To the readers, if you know me, you should've guessed that pairing. xD**

**On other notes, why is okaasan-taichou's the worst day of my week? Maybe the Powers that Be wish to torutre me ou my my mind... Then I can join Stein. XD STEIN!! XDD**

**And it's raining (T-storming, actually).... Feh...**

**Much thanks to **Desert(dot)Moon** for the awesome betaing job as usual, making me feel REALLY guilty for not starting that SasuIno story yet. . .  
**

**ANYWAYS, I hope everyone enjoyed it! Please leave me a review so I can get high, cause I need to forget my troubles from today. **

**Thanks!**

**Luff,Toasty**

**... and Mira, who doesn't approve of Toast dissing her rain.**


	2. Story 2 by Mira

**Three Roses**

**Story 2- -written by Mira-chan, co-written by Toast**

**Toast and Mira would like to reiterate they don't own Bleach, because if they did Prink-Fruitloop would still be alive, Creepy-Mad-Sciencetist-Clown would be long dead, Unohana/Ukitake/Shunsui's true power would be shown, Yammi would be dead within three seconds and EmoSpada would have died a LONG time ago. Thank you.  
**

**For okaasan-taichou on her birthday with luff.**

* * *

Rukia was yawning over her paperwork in the thirteenth division in the early morning. Already regretting her decision to try and make Ukitake-taichou's life easier by doing a bulk of the paperwork before she left for the world of the living, she was surprised to hear some other person up at such an ungodly hour entering the office.

She was even more surprised when Ukitake entered the office, grinning madly.

"Ukitake-taichou?" Rukia exclaimed. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Rukia-fukutaichou," Ukitake replied, still uncharacteristically grinning.

There was silence as Rukia stared at her captain.

"Um… Ukitake-taichou? Are you feeling okay?"

Ukitake grin widened as he said, "Better than ever."

Rukia was, if anything, more unconvinced.

"Do you maybe want to go see Unohana-taichou?" she asked gently.

Rukia, already bewildered, stared as Ukitake started to laugh, chuckling deeply. It quickly turned into coughs, and Rukia, relieved that she knew how to handle this, hurried over with a handkerchief.

When Ukitake stopped coughing enough to start laughing again, Rukia knew this called for desperate measures.

* * *

Poking her head into Kyoraku-taichou and Ise-fukutaichou's office, Rukia was relieved to see Nanao sitting at her desk neatly filling out paperwork. Kyoraku-taichou was, of course, nowhere to be seen.

Nanao looked up. "Kuchiki-fukutaichou, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Hai," Rukia muttered. "Would you please wake up Kyoraku-taichou?"

Nanao looked startled. "Wake up—? Why?"

"Um, it's Ukitake-taichou. He's acting very . . . unusual. I believe Kyoraku-taichou is probably the only one who can help."

Rukia paused, suddenly looking embarrassed. "And, well, he probably won't kill you if you wake him up."

Nanao did not reply to this last statement, merely saying, "I will see what I can do." She stood and left Rukia to follow her in her wake.

* * *

Nanao banged on Kyoraku-taichou's apartment door, though she didn't expect it to have any effect. Rukia had gone back to thirteenth division to keep an eye on her captain and his unusual behavior while Nanao woke up Shunsui.

Far easier said than done, though Nanao had come prepared.

As expected, the banging produced nothing but noise. So Nanao picked the lock.

Shunsui was deeply asleep, snoring ever so gently. Nanao took a moment to consider her approach, then dumped a conveniently placed bucket of ice-cold water on is head.

Shunsui spluttered a little and stirred, but still slumbered on. Nanao drew her fan from her sleeve and whacked him on the head sharply.

"Wake up, you lazy drunk!" she barked.

Shunsui stirred. There was something calling him, something more important than his hangover, more important than uninterrupted sleep, more important than the sharp pains that reminded him of when his lovely Nanao-chan hit him with her fan—that was it!

Shunsui shot up, his bleary eyes searching the room.

"My lovely Nanao~-chan! Where are~ you?! Why do you need me?"

There was a loud 'thwack.' Shunsui rubbed the side of his face. "Ah, _there_ you are! Why does my _lovely_ Nanao-chan need me?" Shunsui paused as a gentle ticking caught his attention. " . . . at seven-thirty in the morning?! Wow Nanao-chan, I don't think I've ever been up this early before. . . ."

Nanao thwacked her captain on the head with her fan again. "Who are you calling 'your lovely Nanao-chan'?"

Several minutes later, Nanao dragged Shunsui into the thirteenth division, where Rukia was holding a handkerchief for Ukitake to cough into.

Rukia anxiously told Shunsui (with Nanao listening) what had happened while Shunsui held the handkerchief.

"Ah, I see," Shunsui said when she had finished. "Now, don't look so worried, Rukia-_chan_. Jushiro will be _fine_. Look, there are only a few drops of blood on the handkerchief. I'll go calm him down while you work on the paperwork."

As Shunsui stood up and walked Ukitake towards the door, he paused by Nanao.

"Hey, Nanao-chan," he said, shrugging out of his pink haori and gently placing it on her shoulders. "Don't worry your pretty little head. Jushiro will be fine."

Nanao unconsciously clutched the gaudy haori closer. "My p-pretty little h-head?!" she spluttered as Shunsui escorted Ukitake out of the office and slid the door closed.

* * *

Unohana had arrived at Yonbantai at her regular time, and found, to her surprise, someone had been there earlier. The mystery person had gained entry to her office, which was protected by kido spells at all times. Lying on her desk were three roses, a smoky-pink, a white, and a deep crimson. The three stems were free of thorns and so deeply intertwined that Unohana wasn't sure if they could ever be separated.

A short note was attached, and although the handwriting was familiar, Unohana couldn't identify it.

'_Crimson, white, and pink,_

_Three roses, three colors that_

_Bind us together.'_

'Hmm,' thought Unohana. Deciding that her schedule could spare a few minutes, she settled down to decipher who had sent the note.

* * *

Several hours later, a not-sobered Shunsui and a more solemn Ukitake dropped by Hachibantai so Ukitake could apologize for his earlier behavior despite Shunsui's assurances that, "Nanao-chan won't mind, don't be silly, Juu-chan."

Nanao was still wearing Shunsui's pink haori as she did paperwork, looking quite surprised to realize this when Shunsui pointed it out.

Ukitake managed to get his apology in between Nanao chasing Shunsui around the office with her fan, accusing him of being drunk, and Shunsui loudly protesting that it was only one small cup of sake.

Ukitake though he saw Nanao nod her head at him, but he wasn't sure. He departed his friends' division and went back to his own, where he apologized to Rukia as well.

* * *

Unohana returned to her desk several hours later, her schedule having allowed her one minute before Juuichibantai members were admitted to the General Relief Station for injuries acquired in an inter-division fight.

Five minutes after she had instructed her subordinates on how to deal with the injured shinigami, Unohana checked in with her fukutaichou before heading to Juubantai.

* * *

A harassed looking Hitsugaya Toshiro looked up from a stack of paperwork when Unohana-taichou entered his office. The paperwork was both his and Matsumoto's, his assistant captain having not bothered to stay in the division longer than ten minutes.

His bad day, which had already included a hyper Ukitake-taichou, was only bound to get worse with a slightly annoyed Unohana.

'Of course,' Hitsugaya reflected, 'Unohana showing only mild annoyance means that she's seriously pissed.' Hitsugaya wondered if it would be wiser to drop everything and run.

However, by that time, the Yonbantai-taichou had already approached his desk.

"Good morning, Hitsugaya-taichou," the woman said gently, "I have a question to ask you."

Hitsugaya gulped. "Yes?"

She set the note on his desk and asked quietly, "Did you write this?"  
Hitsugaya glanced quickly at the paper and then sighed. He'd known that a hyper Ukitake could only mean bad luck, even if he did promise that he wouldn't give him sweets for a month.

"Yes," Hitsugaya sighed reluctantly. "Ukitake-taichou requested me to write it." Risking a glance up, Toshiro was pleased, but surprised, to find that all traces of annoyance had vanished from Unohana's features.

"I see," Unohana said softly. "Thank you, Hitsugaya-taichou. Would you please inquire of Matsumoto-fukutaichou when she returns why she was frolicking in a Seireitei bar with Kira-fukutaichou and Shuuhei-fukutaichou this early in the morning?"

With those final words, she departed, leaving a surprised Hitsugaya to find that all his body parts were still intact. Then his face darkened as he realized the last thing Unohana-taichou had said.

"MATSUMOTO!!!!!"

* * *

Unohana found Ukitake at his koi pond.

"Jushiro?" she inquired softly.

Ukitake looked up and smiled. "Did I get the right shade of pink?" he asked, standing from where he was feeding his fish.

Unohana looked surprised for a moment, then reflexively checked the inside of her haori. "Yes, it was perfect," she muttered softly.

Ukitake crossed to where Unohana was standing and took her hand in his. When Resu didn't pull away he said, "So, I imagine you liked your birthday gift then?"

Unohana smiled. "Yes, I did indeed."

Ukitake grinned. "I'm glad." He stared at his koi pond for a moment and then said, "Y'know, I don't think that koi was here last night."

* * *

**A/N: Mainly written by Mira-chan, but Toast had to help her out of writers block at the end. XD If you couldn't guess ('cause nee-chan wasn't clear) Ukitake bribed Hitsu to write the haiku for him so okaasan-taichou wouldn't find out who it was so easily. XD He's a sly one, Uki-chan...**

**You don't like Unohana, dunno what you're doing still reading, 'cause you should have stopped at Toast's chapter. You don't like UkiUno, deal with it.**

**Mira would also like to say she's sorry for putting so much ShunNanao in there, but it's her favorite couple, and she has to put them in every fic she writes! UkiUno is a close second though, and I believe IchiRuki is third.**

**And while I'm ot pleased at having to type the whole damn thing OVER THE PHONE 'cause certain beta's I won't mention got their computers taken away, I still luff it, and I think it's better then mine. XD Or am I just getting all "support the younger sibling"-esque? *shrugs* I luffs you anyway, Mira-chan. XD  
**

**And Mira and I cheered at EmoSpada's demise, and feel like killing Kubo for Yammi's new.... thing.... Don't know what the hell we're talking about? Good, 'CAUSE WE'RE ON A BOAT! (Toast has been reading too much Soul Eater, excuse her)**

**Please wish Unohana-taichou a Happy Birthday with us! Toast will now go make a cake and work on her Isane cosplay!**

**Also, much thanks to the lovely **Desert(dot)Moon** for betaing this chapter too. XD We owe her something NICE.  
**

**Reviews are like crack! They're cheaper then crack too! So please, review so we both can fufill our addiction without spending the money we need cosplays! Every little review counts! (Avenue Q reference? lol)  
**

**-Love Toast and Mira-chan**

**P.S. The last line is in reference to Yachiru stealing Bya-bo's koi fish and putting them in Uki's pond. OMAKE'S WILL SOMEDAY RULE THE WORLD!!! *Toast is shot brutally***


End file.
